Landwehr

Landwehr were units of Germanic nations that were made up of militia, recruited for the defense of their countries. The first Landwehr units were formed in Prussia on 17 March 1813 under a royal edict, with all men from 18 to 45 being called up to defend their country. They also served in the armies of Austria-Hungary, Switzerland, the German Empire, and Nazi Germany.

History
The Landwehr were founded on 17 March 1813 by King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, who called up all able-bodied men from 18 to 45 to bear arms in defense of Prussia during the Sixth Coalitiion of the Napoleonic Wars. His Landwehr forces remained after the end of the Napoleonic era, with each brigade composing of one line and one Landwehr regiment. However, it retarded the mobilization and diminished the effectivity of the first line, and by 1859 Landwehr were put behind the main troops.

Landwehr were also in service of the Swiss Confederation, who had a law requiring all citizens to serve in the Landwehr for twelve years. In 1965 the army reform abolished the law, as it became clear that, after 151 years of neutrality, Swizterland would not need an army to fight a war.

Austria-Hungary created their Landwehr on 5 December 1868 on the orders of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary. At the start of World War I, there were 135,000 Landwehr that were put into service. There were also Hungarian landwehr that served in mixed units with Austria's troops, as independent Hungarian landwehrs were the ones who led the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.

The Baltic states formed the "Baltic Landwehr" in 1918 after World War I, established by Baltic nobility in the countries that gained independence from the Russian Empire. Led by generals Rudiger von der Goltz and Harold Alexander (the former a German veteran of World War I who was opposed to Russia; the second a British Lieutenant-Colonel who was sent to fight against the Bolsheviks), the Baltic Landswehr fought until they were eventually disavowed during the Estonian War of Independence in 1919.

During the Weimar Republic of Germany in the 1920s, Germany was not allowed an army of more than 100,000 troops. However, after Adolf Hitler's coup d'etat, Landwehr units were re-established in January 1935. Only the 14th Landwehr Division of Nazi Germany ever fought in World War II, with the rest being used as replacement troops or occupational units.